Dare the Wind

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud

by Tracey Fern; ill. by Emily Arnold McCully

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014

40 pages

I was prowling around the Internet today, searching for content to share on the Read Like a Girl Facebook page, when I came across an interview with Merline Saintil. Saintil is a programmer who currently serves as Yahoo’s head of global engineering for mobile and emerging products.

Both as a woman and an African-American, she’s a minority in her field, and she believes that mentors and a strong support network have been crucial to helping her overcome traditional barriers. In particular, she mentions a male CEO who helped connect her with significant educational and professional opportunities.

I think it’s easy for us to assume that women will be a girl’s best or most important mentors, but that’s not necessarily the case. First of all, as the de facto leaders in virtually every sector of society and the economy, men are simply more likely to be in a position to serve as mentors. Second, there are plenty of men who–out of idealism, pragmatism, or a mixture of both–are happy to help talented girls and women fulfill their potential.

Tracey Fern’s picture book Dare the Wind is about one woman who benefited from the lifelong support of men who recognized and fostered her potential. Born to a sailing captain in early 1800s Massachusetts, Eleanor Prentiss (nicknamed “Ellen”) fell in love with the sea at a young age. Her father, probably motivated by pragmatism rather than feminism (he had no sons to succeed him), taught her everything he knew about sailing. He also taught her the complicated art of mathematical navigation, a skill beyond the reach of most sailors or even boat captains of the day.

As a young woman, Ellen became known for racing–and winning–against other boats in Massachusetts Bay. She later married a trading captain, who promptly took her on as his navigator at a time when it was still considered bad luck to have a woman aboard ship, let alone helping to sail the vessel.

Eventually, the couple took charge of the Flying Cloud, a new type of fast-sailing boat called a clipper. Ellen’s navigational skill–and her husband’s trust in her–spurred them on to multiple world records for the fastest voyage between Boston and San Francisco.

The reality is that, without the help and support of her father and husband, Ellen probably would not have been able to achieve her dream of becoming a champion sailor and navigator. At minimum, the process would have been far more difficult.

But that doesn’t make Ellen’s story any less inspiring for me. She knew what she wanted to do, and she seized every opportunity to do it. Even with a supportive father and husband on her side, there were significant obstacles in her way. Ellen lived at a time when married women had no personhood under the law, and when the weight of social (and naval) convention was very heavy indeed. And then there were the grueling physical and mental demands of repeated sea voyages around the Horn.

Ellen broke all those barriers–and the men in her life were deeply proud of her for doing so. Her story is an excellent example to young girls whose dreams are unconventional. It shows them that they don’t have to assume opposition from half the human race, that in fact they can keep their eyes open for men as well as women to support them along the way. And it’s a reminder to seize the opportunities that come through those channels, to be strong and courageous like Ellen and have confidence in themselves to find a way forward.